I’d love to see a version of this for the Portland metro area.
Archive | Commuting
How Good is Your Commute Benefit?
Portland Afoot, the 10-minute low-car life news magazine (disclaimer – I’m on their board), would like to know. They’ve put together a survey they’d like you to have your HR department fill out for the “best employers” feature in their April issue.
Would You Like Fries with Your Sprawl?
I’m told that the room for the weekly PSU Transportation Seminars now allows food and drink. Take advantage at this presentation:
Portland State University
Center for Transportation Studies
Winter 2011 Transportation Seminar SeriesSpeaker: Joe Cortright, Impresa
Topic: How Sprawl is Lengthening our Commutes and Why Misleading Mobility Measures are Making Things Worse
Abstract: This report offers a new view of urban transportation performance. It explores the key role that land use and variations in travel distances play in determining how long Americans spend in peak hour travel. It shows how the key tool contained in the Urban Mobility Report – the Travel Time Index – actually penalizes cities that have shorter travel distances and conceals the additional burden caused by longer trips in sprawling metropolitan areas. Finally, it critically examines the reliability and usefulness of the methodology used in the Urban Mobility Report, finding it does not accurately estimate travel speeds, it exaggerates travel delays, and it overestimates the fuel consumption associated with urban travel. How we measure transportation systems matters, and the nation needs a better set of measures than it has today.
When: Friday, February 4 2011, 12:00 – 1:00pm
Where: PSU Urban Center Building, SW 6th and Mill, Room 204
Updated: Transit Tax Benefit to Expire?
Update: 12/21/10
The benefit is safe for 2011.
Original post: 11/23/10
Part of the stimulus bill was a provision that allowed employer-provided transit benefits to be deductible expenses at the same level as parking: up to $230 per month.
That provision will expire in January and the cap on deductible transit benefits will return to $120 per month.
T4America has a petition drive going to ask Congress to keep the limit equal between driving and transit.
Get Married, Have a Short Commute
Apparently, those are the keys to happiness…
This article (via Planetizen) suggests that human psychology causes us to fundamentally mis-weight the benefits of a larger home versus a shorter commute when making housing choices.